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Show REINFORCED CONCRETE ROAD Experiments Conducted in Suburbs of Washington to Determine Strength of Foundation. How a reinforced concrete road holds up under heavy traffic is to be determined by the bureau of public roads. United States Department of Agriculture, through experiments to be conducted on such a road now being be-ing built in the suburbs of Washington Washing-ton in co-operation with Arlington county, Va. xhe road is being reinforced with many different arrangements of wire mesh and round steel rods embedded In the concrete. The Joints will be either a crack left in the road, to be filled with tar, or simply a sheet of corrugated metal set on edge with the concrete poured around it. Some sections sec-tions are to have joints running along the middle of the road, some across It, and some will be built without joints. xOf especial interest is the construction construc-tion of ribbed sections. Instead of placing the concrete oa..a nearly flat subgrade, trenches will be dug in the subgrade running parallel to the edges of the road, and also across the roacl. These trenches will be filled with concrete, con-crete, giving the slab downward projection pro-jection of concrete, ana presumably strengthening It. Experiments also will be conducted to determine the strengthening effect of treating the earth under the concrete. On one section sec-tion the earth for a depth of 6 Inches will be mixed with cement, using 1 part of cement to 20 parts of earth. In some places where there is a grade a trench under the concrete will be filled with gravel. These trenches will slope toward the edges of the road and drain away any water that might otherwise accumulate under the surface. |